Although their Mongol overlords (beginning with the founding of the Yuan dynasty by Kublai Khan in 1280) tyrannized the Chinese in nearly every area of life, the arts enjoyed a new-found freedom. On the one hand oppressed, on the other released from the straight-jacket of Confucianism, the Chinese made the most of recent developments in poetry and drama. Yuan plays were a tonic, an amazing spectacle colorful outbursts of singing, dancing, music, acting and mime. They poured new life into old stories oppressors were ridiculed, servants became masters, scenes changed, day followed night in the...